The New Kid

Ah yes, the awkward greeting of the new guy. More awkward still, the new guy is rather green to this world of "blogging." Nevertheless, dear reader, our gentle correspondent has been known to read a book or two in his day, and perhaps may have some interesting comments to add to your discussion about the book learnin'.

Firstly, please don't think me a gate-crashing blogger: I was asked to join by Rhianna. So if my posts are boring or stupid, you can blame her.

Perhaps the best introduction would be a quick run-down of the books I have been holding in front of my face recently:

Grief Lessons by Anne Carson: translations of four plays by Euripides. If you like your classical Greek tragedies on the slightly more obscure side, especially those that lack any kind of closure or catharsis, this is a must-read. I quite like Carson's poetry, and she can be a good introduction to other poets like Sappho. If you're like me, and you prefer the Hercules that kills his family in a god-induced madness, rather than the conflict-free Hercules of Saturday morning cartoons and Disney movies, then you'll find the first play in the book, "Herakles", to be especially interesting. (I guess that should be a spoiler-alert)

Diamond Grill by Fred Wah: this is the tenth anniversary of Wah's collection of short fragments about his father and the cafe he owned. To be honest, a lot of Wah's poetry to me feels rather self-indulgent at times, but I really enjoyed this book, his most accessible collection by far. Wah describes this book as a biotext, a different way of thinking about the memoir that isn't bogged down in the expectations of life-writing and autobiography. Not exactly short stories, these prose fragments (or prose poems, if you prefer) add up to a very unified narrative, even though Wah is obviously not writing a traditional linear story. The afterword, added for the new edition, is an essay by Wah about the idea of biotexts, and, despite being quite interesting with ideas similar to those in his Faking It book, it felt like it was tacked on by Wah as a way of holding up his academic street cred. I think he has some reservations about writing in a more accessible way (compared to his poetry, in general). Anyway, small quibble. On a non-literary note, my grandparents knew Fred Wah's uncle, who ran a cafe in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. And if that doesn't make you want to read this book, nothing will.

The Mother Tongue: English and how it got that way by Bill Bryson: this is an old one by Bryson, and I must point out that the first time I was introduced to his work (a friend promised me I would "love" his writing), I couldn't stand him. I did enjoy this book, however, a collection of the interesting and quirky facts about English and language in general. The only strange part of this book is reading all of Bryson's stats: seventeen-year-old population numbers and references to the Soviet Union. Out-of-date facts aside, this book succeeds in making me rethink my hatred of Bill Bryson.

The Englishman's Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe: I avoided reading this book for many years, mostly because it was so popular. I'm not sure why I did this, because it's a great book. My general attitude is to steer clear of what other people seem to really like, but perhaps I should rethink this.

Other books on the go:
The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgeman (Not only does this book have the funniest cover in the history of publishing, it is quite amusing on the inside as well. My favourite part so far: the list of seven hundred hobo names)
Moy Sand and Gravel by Paul Muldoon
The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe
Earth after Rain by Sherri Benning
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
Metamorphoses by Ovid (trans. by Allen Mandelbaum)

Well, that's all I will say for now. You may proceed in making fun of the new guy.